Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
In all temptation there is somewhat of doubt concerning the Lord's presence and mercy, and concerning salvation and the like things.Those who are in temptation are in interior anxiety, even to despair; in which they are for the most part kept, to the end -
that they may be at length confirmed in the fact that all things are of the Lord's mercy;in respect to which -
that they are saved by Him alone
that with themselves there is nothing but evil
they are confirmed by means of conflicts in which they overcome.After the temptation there remain from it many states of truth and good to which their thoughts may afterwards be bent by the Lord, which would otherwise rush into insane things, and draw away the mind into opposition to what is true and good.
(from Arcana Coelestia 2334)